Tapas Barinn

Occasion: Continuation of snacking
Location: Tapas Barinn on Vesturgötu in Reykjavik, Iceland (tapas.is)
Edibles: grilled squid with chili and garlic; Icelandic sea-trout with sweet pepper salsa; langoustines baked in garlic; a skewer of neck of pork in romesco sauce; ovenbaked monkfish wrapped in Serrano ham with pesto

Musings: Tapas Barinn is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the food was pretty tasty. On the other hand, the whole place could have used a good scrub and the kitchen is a disorganized disaster.

The place was hopping busy when we stopped by, so we were escorted to a couchy sort of area to wait. The coffee table was sticky from spilled drinks, and so were the drink menus. The dim lighting only helps hide what you see, not what you touch.

After a glass of wine, a booth near the entrance opened up. It was a bit chilly from the constantly opening door, but they anticipated it and provided each booth with some blankets. As a bonus, our booth was right across the open kitchen and I could easily observe the goings-on.

We started with three plates. The squid was okay, not very memorable. The pork skewer was cooked unevenly - the top part that I ate was overcooked (presumably because it was closer to the flame) whereas the lower part that Yining had was nice and juicy. Of the three, the sea-trout was the best. Scandinavian fish continues to impress.

During the slow progression of dishes, we were able to observe the kitchen in action. Here's their problem: the menu's too big for so small a kitchen. The restaurant has two fairly large dining rooms, both serviced by a long, narrow kitchen the size of your average hallway. They had about six people in there, bustling around, each doing their own thing. They also had an underling popping up and down a ladder to get miscellaneous plates and condiments from the attic. You could tell that the kitchen was behind and being harried by the waitresses for food, and yet sometimes there'd be a dozen plates waiting for pickup.

With a space like that, you need to really be smart. Pare down the menu. Design front-loaded dishes and do the bulk of your work in the mise en place before dinner service. Have people work in a single area in the kitchen, performing a single task (e.g. grilling, saucing) for all the dishes instead of having one person responsible for completing a single dish.

(Tia Pol has this down to an art. Their kitchen is maybe six feet square and they produce exquisite food, hot and fast.)

While spying on the kitchen, we saw them produce a baked langoustine dish that looked pretty tasty. I hopped across the aisle and their expeditor confirmed that it was the langoustine with garlic (though they call it lobster). We ordered one. The langoustines had that slightly mealy texture that frozen seafood can get. A second underwhelming shellfish experience.

As a pleasant surprise, the kitchen sent over a monkfish on the house. (I guess the expeditor doesn't get to talk to diners much? I'm not above flirting with restaurant staff for free food but I honestly barely spoke to the guy.)

Each dish was $8-11 dollars, which doesn't sound like much but does tend to add up when you're ordering lots of tiny dishes and getting drinks as well. For what amounted to a hearty snack or a light dinner, we spent enough to pay for a three-course meal with drinks at a fairly nice restaurant in New York. Eating out in Iceland is expensive!!

Cafe Ronda

Occasion: Dinner with Abby and Jill
Location: Cafe Ronda on Columbus between 71st and 72nd (caferonda.com)
Edibles: calamares fritos; gambas al ajillo; spinach salad with goat cheese

Musings: While waiting for the girls, I ordered a cocktail at the bar. The drink was rum-based, but what their drink menu didn't mention was that they used coconut rum to make it. I really don't like coconut - it reminds me too strongly of sunscreen. Over a period of about 20 minutes, I took maybe two or three small sips of the drink. The bartender finally asked me if I liked it, and I told her about my coconut-suncreen thing. At which point she did nothing. Didn't comp the drink, didn't offer to make me a new one with regular rum. Boo. What NOT to do in terms of customer service.

The calamari was a nice big dish at $9. Inexplicably, the $11 shrimp were puny and came in a tiny dish.

Bottom line: Give it a pass - there are lots of better options on the UWS.

La Barraca

Occasion: Dinner with Winnie
Location: La Barraca, Reina 29 in Madrid, Spain
Edibles: salad with tuna and anchovies; sautéed mushrooms; seafood paella

Musings: At 10:00, we headed out to dinner. When we arrived, the restaurant was three-quarters empty, as it had been when we'd gone the night before. So why all the rigamarole with the reservations? I find it hard to believe that the restaurant was completely packed between the hours of 8:00 and 10:00, but just happened to be deserted when we were there. I don't know - maybe they were temporarily short-staffed and could only take limited resos?

Anyway... Winnie got the salad and I got the mushrooms to start. Both apps were good.

The feature of the night was, of course, the massive skillet of seafood paella.

The menu calls this a serving for two, but I think it's really enough food for four people. They served us each a gigantic plate...

... and there was still more rice for seconds!

While perfectly fine and workmanlike, the paella didn't rock my world or anything. I think it looked better than it tasted. And yes, my palate was somewhat compromised (more below), but Winnie mostly agreed. (Though, for Winnie, I'm not sure any paella could compete with the memory of the magical squid ink one she had in Barcelona.)

[Postscript: Little did I know, this was to be my last real meal in Spain. By the time this meal started, my system was already out of whack. First, I wasn't the least bit hungry. Which was strange, because I'd spent about three hours that afternoon perambulating around the Prado. Second, I had a low-level headache. I picked at the food and just generally felt listless. By the end of dinner, I could hardly hold my head up and felt really wretched and nauseous. Winnie helped me stagger back to the hotel, and I threw up about five times that night. Ugh. I spent the entire next day in bed, slowly sipping flat, room temperature ginger ale and sleeping a lot. I missed the chance to see Picasso's Guernica, and a return visit to the Mercado de San Miguel. Sniff sniff. By dinnertime on Monday, I felt good enough to nibble on a few things from room service. By dinnertime on Tuesday, I had mostly recovered and we were able to eat out again.]

Taberna Los Huevos de Lucio

Occasion: We'll call it lunch.
Location: Taberna Los Huevos de Lucio, Cava Baja 30 in Madrid, Spain
Edibles: tomato and avocado salad; battered, deep-fried shrimp; callos Madrileña (stewed tripe)

Musings: This place has the distinction for serving us the first mediocre meal of the trip. The tomatoes in the salad were hard and underripe, and there was way too much dressing and cheese. [Postscript: Unlike the fabulous tomatoes in France and Italy, the tomatoes in Spain are about as bad as they are in the US. I base this assertion on three separate instances of tomato consumption.]

The shrimp were okay, but you could hardly taste them under all the breading and sauce. This dish struck me as clumsy, and very American.

The tripe was, frankly, terrible. It's supposed to be a local specialty, and Mario Batali certainly seemed to enjoy it when he was in Spain. But I could only force down a few bites. The different tripes were all variations on the theme of mushy, squishy, and gummy. Kudos to Winnie for eating a good third of that dish so we wouldn't look quite so wasteful.

Total damage was about 30€.

Apparently, what we should have gotten was the soggy fries with fried eggs. Seriously, it was on every table. What is it with the Spanish and soggy fries?

Villa del Pescadito

Occasion: Afternoon snack?
Location: Villa del Pescadito, Toledo 26 in Madrid, Spain
Edibles: fried sardines, fried shrimp, bread and ham

Musings: OK, so maybe sardines are not the most natural follow-up to chocolate con churros. But going to a sardine bar was pretty much my only to-do for this entire Madrid trip. So off we went. [Postscript: And wait until you see what came next!]

On our way there, we found ourselves in the middle of what we first thought was a parade, but turned out to be a labor protest. With all the unrest in north Africa, this made us a little nervous. But we ducked into Villa del Pescadito to wait it out, and the protest eventually moved on peacefully.

Villa del Pescadito is a tiny, narrow little bar with a number of seafood small plates on offer. We got my sardines - scooped out of a tub, raw, and floured and flash-fried by the proprietor's wife. We also got a plate of small head-on shrimp, likewise flash-fried. And, since it was a bar, some Mahou draft beers. (With every beer, you get a small round of bread with a sliver of ham.)

I know what you're thinking - wrong time of day. And it was. This is the type of snack you should really get at happy hour. But we had limited time in Madrid, and already had plans for the evening (the Prado + paella) so we went for it.

Food was tasty; it was fun. The place definitely had a neighborhood bar kind of feel. When we were there, the other patrons were some taciturn old guys - who were undoubtedly wondering what the hell those Asian chicks were up to.

[Postscript: The sardines are the likely culprit for my later bout of violent food poisoning. Which makes me sad, because I really did have a good time there. And also mad because, DAMMIT, I NEVER GET SICK when I travel. I had to miss out on three whole meals in Madrid! And I didn't really get my usual appetite back until almost a week later. What a waste!]

Chocolatería San Ginés

Occasion: We'll call it breakfast.

Location: Chocolatería San Ginés, Pasadizo de San Ginés 5 in Madrid, Spain. It's basically in an alley in the triangle bordered by Calle Mayor, Calle del Arenal and Calle de Bordadores. Between metro stops Sol and Opera.
Edibles: chocolate con churros

Musings: Despite my somewhat vague directions above, this place is actually quite easy to find. (Winnie and I found it on the first try, anyway.) They have indoor and outdoor seating.

Wow, they sure don't mess around when it comes to their hot chocolate. The "drink" is so thick that a churro will stand upright in it. It's magnificent, though - bittersweet, velvety and unctuous. Pretty much liquid sin in a cup. I managed a few super-dense sips, but neither Winnie nor I finished our cups. If you don't have a sweet tooth, one order is probably enough for two to share. (But, I mean, don't be cheap - the other person should order coffee or something if you're taking up a table.)

We were contentedly munching away when we saw a nearby table get these giant churros. Of course, I had to get some too. There were a few anxious minutes when it wasn't clear that we were able to properly communicate our order to the grumpy waiter.... but then they arrived. I spontaneously let out a loud cheer, much to the amusement of neighboring tables.

I'm sad to report that the giant churros are not as tasty as the little ones. They're sort of doughy and oily. Not that I let that stop me from eating a whole one. (It's basically a you tiao if you think about it...)

Fortified by sugar and grease, Winnie and I meandered our way to our next goal...

[Note: Thanks to Ana for the rec!]

Mercado de la Reina

Occasion: Dinner with Winnie
Location: Mercado de la Reina, Gran Vía 12 in Madrid, Spain (mercadodelareina.es)
Edibles: prix fixe dinner - details below

Musings: This place was across the street from the paella place we had intended to visit. (They were full up, so we made a reservation for the next day.)

I was actually pretty happy about our detour. There was something about Mercado de la Reina that just *looked* right: it was modern and trendy but not obnoxiously so, bustling and, most importantly, not full of tourists. I had a feeling we'd eat well. And I was right.

Despite how crowded it was, we were seated within a few minutes at the bar in front of the kitchen. A prime view of the action! They've a small kitchen, but it looked well-organized and efficient. Another good sign.

As we were only able to half-decipher the menu, we went with the prix fixe. I tried to order different dishes for us for each course (you know, to hedge our bets) and was successful for two out of three courses. Don't know what happened with the first; fortunately, it was a great dish and we both loved it. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, there was the amuse bouche, a crostini with a sort of tomato and anchovy sauce and a bit of melted brie:

A good start. The bread was nice - soft but chewy - and the fish in the sauce was an unexpected surprise.

For the first course, we were both served baby broad beans, sautéed with jamón Ibérico (Iberian dry-cured ham) topped with two sunny-side-up eggs. You break the yolks and let them run over the beans, and yum.... heaven. This dish would be a really superlative hangover breakfast. Bourdain would love it.

For our mains, I got the cod with peppers and squid ink sauce. A really nice piece of fish, with a good hard sear on the skin. I don't think the squid ink sauce added much but Winnie liked it. (Turns out she loves all things squid ink - go figure.) I did like the stewed peppers; I think they really brought out the sweetness of the fish, besides being a somewhat unusual vegetable side for it.

Winnie ended up with these tiny lamb chops with french fries. This dish was a complete wild card - I couldn't identify any of the words in the description. The lamb itself was fantastic, crispy and brown and well-seasoned. I could have eaten piles of them, no problem. But they really could have done better than those anemic french fries as a side.

The two desserts were a cream mousse with flambéed pineapple, and a Cantabrian-style caramelized cheese flan with raspberry sauce. I'm not a big fan of flan in general so I thought the mousse was the better one. Of all the courses, I think dessert was the weakest overall.

But bottom line, I was really happy with our meal. Including some table wine, it was all done for 35€ (or about $50). Mercado de la Reina is a restaurant that 1) I wish was located in New York, and 2) I think could do really well in New York. And you know that's my ultimate compliment!

Along with our earlier adventures in Mercado de San Miguel, it really has been an A+ food day, far surpassing my expectations.

Mercado de San Miguel

Occasion: The inaugural meal of the trip!
Location: Mercado de San Miguel, in the Plaza San Miguel, Madrid, Spain
Edibles: we hit several different stalls - more details below

Musings: Foodie heaven!! Winnie and I absolutely gorged ourselves on all kinds of fantastic seafood, snacks and pastries, washed down with wonderfully crisp local white wine. Divine!!

After a quick pass-through to look at the options, we settled on a seafood stall for the first course. We got a plate of octopus with olive oil and paprika, nuked for a minute, then spritzed with lemon juice. Cooked perfectly - really tender, but with just enough chew to it.

We also had oysters on the half shell. These were bigger than I usually like them, but tasty nonetheless.

The real standouts of the day were the langoustines. They were simply prepared - boiled, with a sprinkling of coarse salt and some lemon wedges. But! They had roe! Something new for me. I've had shrimp with roe a few times, but never langoustines. As with the shrimp (or even fish with roe), the meat is a little mealy and not the best. But it's a worthy tradeoff because the roe is wonderful. Be patient - take the time to glean every little bit. And of course, you have the head to slurp! Langoustines are spinier and more heavily armored than shrimp, so it's a bit hazardous, but HOLY MOLEY does it taste amazing. I think my eyes rolled back in my head.

Finally, I had some fresh surf clams. Fantastic.

The stall also served wine in little plastic Dixie cups. Despite the humble presentation, the wine was awesomely delicious: crisp and bracing and the perfect accompaniment to the seafood.

Onward! We hit a little bakery cart for some empanadas. I got one each of the bacalao and the chorizo, and both were excellent.

Next! A cone of olive oil potato chips from this cart. Yummy. (The other half of the case is deep-fried jamón. I tried one, but it was sort of underwhelming. I know.... what a letdown.)

Finally, dessert. Europe is pretty much the only place I can order apple pastries, because they don't always pair apples with cinnamon. This tart was exactly what I was looking for. (Hey, I'm running out of adjectives here!)

So there it is - a truly epic meal. And not a single bobble by any of the vendors we tried. Mercado de San Miguel.... I'm beyond impressed. Bravo!

Shanghai Expo 2010 - Spain

We had dinner at the Spanish Pavilion. The architecture of the pavilion itself was awesome. It was sort of free-form and Frank Gehry-esque. The entire exterior was textured with "shingles" of woven rattan.

The food was... pretty pathetic. The table wine was barely drinkable. We got a sad waterlogged salad to start, some rubbery meatballs and soggy patatas bravas to follow, and a slice of some pie or other to finish. If you know me, you'll know that a pie has to be pretty damn bad for me to forget what the flavor was. [Postscript: This meal ended up being the worst one we had at the Expo.]

The dinner cabaret show was likewise feeble, though listening to the MC speak Chinese with a heavy Spanish accent was a suprisingly enjoyable novelty.

Bar Jamón

Occasion: A drink and a snack with Elizabeth
Location: Bar Jamón on 17th and Irving, just around the corner from Casa Mono (barjamonnyc.com)
Edibles: tortilla española and cured tuna with gazpacho salad

Musings: A great place to hang out - if can you can get in. It's a little dark cubby of a bar, seating about fifteen. It was blessedly not too crowded tonight. I believe it was originally intended as a sort of waiting room for Casa Mono, but I come to Bar Jamón all the time, completely unrelated to Casa Mono.

Elizabeth and I did some catching up over quartinos of wine. Wine-wise, the selection is not very broad but I'm pretty easygoing - give me a decent white that's not Chardonnay and I'll call it a day.

She'd already eaten so I had the food all to myself. The tortilla was a generous enough portion for $7. Good, but a little bit dense and dry. The tuna dish was a great concept and was seasoned perfectly with just the right amount of acid; unfortunately the tuna itself was a little rubbery - either cured way too long, or cooked through first and then marinated. I would have gone with more of a ceviche style.

Minor critiques aside, it was a nice, light dinner and a great way to decompress after a busy day. I'm sure I'll be back soon.

Tia Pol

Occasion: Girls' night with Abby, Elizabeth, Rachel W, Mamie, Bess and Jill
Location: Tia Pol on 10th between 22nd and 23rd (tiapol.com)
Edibles: suckling pig; wine-marinated Cornish game hen; patatas bravas; lamb skewers; ham croquettes; a cheese plate; chorizo with sherry; head-on shrimp; brandade (salt cod with mashed potatoes); white asparagus with caviar; tortilla española

Musings: The one tricky thing about Tia Pol is getting in. It's tiny, and they don't take reservations except for large parties (and even then only a week in advance). Luckily, we were a large party and trooped past the crush in the front to our nicely secluded booth in the back.

It's hard to play favorites with a menu as solid acros the board as this one but, if pressed, I'd say the lamb skewers. (Tip: If you get it, be sure to grab a chunk of the bread, soaked with all the delicious meat juices.) For PA, it's the patatas bravas - the best I've had in the city. I remember one dinner, upon arriving slightly late, PA was horrified to discover that we only had one measly order on the table. She immediately demanded that we get two more.

The head-on shrimp are delicious enough to frequently tempt our vegetarian, Karen, off the wagon. Her rationale: if they weren't meant to be eaten, they wouldn't be so delicious. (HA! That's what I think of pretty much all food.) [Postscript: Sadly, these are no longer on the menu. Try the garlic shrimp instead.]

Their specials are pricier, but also stunning. They didn't have it today, but one awesome dish that appears regularly is whole brook trout, stuffed with watercress and wrapped in prosciutto. Yum. There's also a wine-stewed date dessert that's a must-have whenever it's available. Today, our suckling pig and game hen were quickly reduced to a few smears of grease. Enough said.

Tia Pol is one my true loves in the city. I could find a man as consistently wonderful as this place, I'd marry him in a red hot minute.